Answers
Frequently asked questions
Questions owners, facility managers and safety directors actually ask us — about our work, and about the codes and standards behind it. Compliance answers here cite the standard or agency that published them, and say so plainly when no requirement exists.
01
Working with HSP
What does Hyperbaric Service Pros actually do?
We install, service, maintain, repair and commission hyperbaric chambers, and we provide operator training, equipment sourcing and upgrades, and consultation or third-party inspection of an existing installation. We are a field-service contractor. We are not a clinic, and we do not treat patients.
How can one company cover all fifty states?
HSP is a United States based hyperbaric specialist and coordinates work in all fifty states through its own technicians plus a vetted nationwide installer network. Scope, checklists and documentation stay with HSP regardless of who is on site.
Can you service a chamber somebody else installed?
Yes. We service, inspect and repair chambers regardless of who installed them, and we will tell you plainly what we find, including anything that should be corrected from the original installation.
Do you work on soft-sided chambers as well as hard chambers?
Yes, both. What changes between them is the scope of work and the documentation, not the standard of workmanship. We will also be straightforward with you about the regulatory difference between the two, which our reference section covers in detail.
What do you need from me to quote a job?
Chamber make, model and serial number, the site address, and what needs doing. For installations, add room dimensions, the access route and the available electrical supply. Photographs of the room and of the equipment plate speed everything up.
What documentation do I get when the work is done?
A written scope before dispatch, the completed checklist for the visit, test results recorded against the equipment, and the maintenance intervals that apply to your specific chamber, handed over in writing. Those records are what a facility needs on file, and what an inspector will ask to see.
What are your hours, and how do I reach you?
Monday through Friday, 8AM to 6PM, and Saturday 9AM to 12PM Eastern time. Text or email is genuinely the fastest route: technicians spend the day inside chamber bays and on the road, where a phone is not always answerable but a text is, and serial numbers, photographs and addresses survive in writing. Text or call 813-519-3232, email hyperbaricservicepros@gmail.com, or use the request service form on this site.
How quickly will you get back to me?
We deliberately do not publish a response window. There are far more chambers in service than there are technicians certified to work on them, and most of our weeks are already committed to chambers on the schedule — we would rather commit to less and turn up than post a number we cannot hold in a busy month. Requests are worked in the order they arrive, and complete ones move first, because a request with the make, model, serial, photographs and site address can be quoted or diagnosed without a round of phone tag. If 48 hours pass with no word from us, please send the same message again or call. It is a scheduling backlog, never disinterest.
Who is HSP, and how long have you been doing this?
Hyperbaric Service Pros is a United States based hyperbaric chamber specialist working nationally, operating since 2018. Our principal technician holds IHA and IBUM certifications along with CAPM project-management and Six Sigma Black Belt process credentials. Those are training and membership credentials, not regulatory qualifications, and we describe them that way.
02
Codes, standards and compliance
Which code governs hyperbaric chambers in the United States?
NFPA 99, the Health Care Facilities Code, Chapter 14, covers electrical, fire, pressure and gas hazards for hyperbaric facilities used for medical and experimental procedures at gauge pressures from 0 psi to 100 psi. Chamber design and fabrication is governed by ASME PVHO-1, and in-service operation and maintenance by ASME PVHO-2. Electrical work follows NFPA 70, the National Electrical Code. Which edition applies to you is set by your authority having jurisdiction.
Does the code apply if my chamber is not in a hospital?
UHMS quotes NFPA 101 as requiring that all occupancies containing hyperbaric facilities comply with NFPA 99, with the annex stating that although the scope of NFPA 99 is limited to health care occupancies, the intent is for the requirement to be applied to hyperbaric facilities in all occupancies. In practice, a chamber in a wellness studio or a private office is not outside the code's reach. Confirm with your local authority having jurisdiction.
Is my chamber legally required to have an annual inspection?
There is no codified numeric annual preventive-maintenance interval for the chamber itself in the NFPA 99 Chapter 14 text reviewed for this site. The code requires that a routine maintenance program exist, cover specific items, and be logged, and it defers the cadence to your manufacturer's manual and your own program. Several other intervals are fixed: gauge calibration every 12 months plus or minus 30 days under ASME PVHO-2-2019, semiannual functional testing of Class A deluge and handline suppression, weekly fire-detection circuit testing, and annual full fire-system testing and a documented drill. So the honest answer is: something is almost certainly due annually, and the document that says so is usually your manufacturer's, not NFPA's.
How often do the acrylic viewports need to be inspected?
ASME PVHO-2-2019 requires a visual viewport inspection prior to each pressurization, or before the first pressurization of the day if the chamber is pressurized more than once daily. Maintenance Viewport Inspections fall on maximum intervals of 18, 24 or 36 months depending on service environment and service life, and cylindrical-window chambers require complete refurbishment at 10-year intervals regardless of usage. Those figures come from the free preview of the 2019 edition; a newer edition exists and should be checked against your obligations.
Is there a code-required hydrostatic retest interval?
None was found for clinical chambers. ASME PVHO-2-2019 explicitly leaves periodicity to the user, the manufacturer and the jurisdiction. The only concrete public retest numbers located are the U.S. Navy's 24-month chamber pressure test and 72-month piping-vessel strength test in NAVFAC MO-406, which is military guidance rather than commercial code.
Does NFPA 99 apply to soft-sided mild chambers?
This is genuinely unresolved. UHMS's published position is that soft-sided bag chambers and the facilities operating them are subject to the same safety requirements as hard chambers, relying on the chapter's 0 to 100 psi scope. A proposed Tentative Interim Amendment to NFPA 99-2024, TIA No. 1735, would have created reduced requirements for mild chambers, and NFPA's own technical committee rejected it with 0 agreeing and 17 disagreeing on both technical merit and emergency nature. Nobody should tell you a soft chamber is code-compliant, PVHO-stamped or interchangeable with a hard chamber.
What clearance do I need around the chamber, and how much floor loading?
No numeric clearance dimension around a vessel and no service-aisle width was found in NFPA 99, ASME PVHO-2 or any other authoritative source reviewed for this site. NFPA 99 requires a supporting foundation designed to carry the chamber including the added stress of on-site hydrostatic testing with water weight, but states no pounds-per-square-foot value. Both numbers come from your manufacturer's drawings and, for floor loading, a structural review.
Does my chamber room need to be sprinklered and fire-rated?
The room housing a Class A or Class B chamber must be for exclusive hyperbaric use and must be sprinklered under NFPA 13, or protected by NFPA 750 water mist. Two-hour fire-rated construction with one-and-a-half-hour B-label doors, and deluge plus independently supplied handline suppression, apply to Class A multiplace chambers and their ancillary equipment. Class B monoplace chambers are not required to comply with those Class A suppression provisions.
03
Safety
Why is oxygen concentration such a big deal?
Oxygen is an oxidizer rather than a flammable gas. It does not burn itself, but it dramatically accelerates combustion, and NFPA notes that materials that are safe at atmospheric conditions, including silicone rubber, some lubricants and even flame-resistant fabrics, can ignite at elevated pressure and elevated oxygen concentration. That is why the rules focus on materials, static control and grounding rather than on open flame.
What is the 23.5 percent figure I keep hearing?
It is the codified alarm threshold. Continuous oxygen monitoring is required in Class A chambers whenever breathing mixtures above 21 percent oxygen by volume are used, with audible and visual alarms indicating concentrations above 23.5 percent by volume. The same 23.5 percent figure triggers antistatic procedures and, in Class A and Class B chambers, patient grounding through a high-impedance conductive pathway.
What can and cannot go inside a chamber?
Silk, wool and synthetic textiles are prohibited in Class A and Class B chambers; 100 percent cotton or a cotton and polyester blend is permitted. Shoes with ferrous nails are prohibited in Class A chambers. Cerium, magnesium and magnesium alloys are prohibited from the chamber interior, and impact-sparking metals are not used for casters or furniture leg tips. Personal warming devices, cell phones and pagers, sparking toys and personal entertainment devices are prohibited inside. Smoking, open flames and hot objects are prohibited near the chamber.
What did the FDA say about hyperbaric chamber fires?
In a Letter to Health Care Providers dated August 25, 2025, FDA stated it is aware of reports of serious injuries and deaths with use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy devices, including recent reports of fires resulting in serious injuries and deaths, and that the root cause of these events is not currently known. Its recommendations include following the manufacturer's instructions for use, ensuring fire prevention and safety measures are in place, ensuring proper grounding equipment is used, following manufacturer-recommended cleaning procedures, maintenance intervals and safety checks for each device, training and supervising staff and patients, keeping prohibited items out of the chamber, and dressing patients in hyperbaric-compatible materials such as cotton.
How is the chamber supposed to be grounded?
The chamber hull is grounded per the National Electrical Code grounding article, and the resistance between the grounded hull and electrical ground shall not exceed 1 ohm, with conductive surfaces continuously bonded to the hull. In-chamber branch circuits are limited to 125 volts and 15 amperes, and portable cord-connected equipment to 120 volts and 2 amperes. Verifying that ground path is part of a service visit, and FDA's 2025 letter specifically calls out proper grounding equipment.
Is a UHMS-accredited facility the same as a licensed one?
No. UHMS accreditation is voluntary. It is not a government license, not FDA clearance of the facility, and not a certification of any service company. It accredits clinical hyperbaric facilities following an on-site survey, on a three-year full accreditation term with a one-year provisional term.
Go deeper
The sourced version of these answers.
Every compliance answer above is drawn from our technical reference library, where each statement links to the standard, agency or professional society that published it — and where requirements are labeled codified, deferred to the manufacturer, voluntary accreditation guidance, or military guidance.
Start with NFPA 99, Chapter 14, ASME PVHO-1 and PVHO-2, maintenance intervals or oxygen and ignition safety.
Call 813-519-3232 or request service and describe the equipment. If we do not know the answer, we will say so rather than guess.
Hyperbaric Service Pros installs, services, and maintains hyperbaric equipment. We are not a medical facility and do not provide medical advice or treatment. Technical information on this site is general reference only — always follow your chamber manufacturer's documentation and the codes enforced in your jurisdiction.
Sources
Every claim on this page, traced to its source
- NFPA 99 Chapter 14, Hyperbaric Facilities — UpCodes public viewerhttps://up.codes/viewer/centers-for-medicare-and-medicaid-services/nfpa-99-2012/chapter/14/hyperbaric-facilities
- NFPA 99 Chapter 14, chamber ventilation provisions — UpCodeshttps://up.codes/s/chamber-ventilation
- ASME PVHO-2-2019 — free ANSI preview (Sections 1–2)https://webstore.ansi.org/preview-pages/asme/preview_pvho-2_2019.pdf
- NFPA Journal, “Under Pressure,” Brian O’Connor, Aug. 23, 2021https://www.nfpa.org/news-blogs-and-articles/nfpa-journal/2021/08/23/nfpa-13-august
- UHMS Clinical Hyperbaric Facility Accreditation Manual, 4th ed.https://www.uhms.org/images/Accreditation-Documents/Fourth_Edition_UHMS_Accreditation_Manual_Final.pdf
- UHMS, “Consumer Warning: The Dangers of Soft-Sided Bag Chambers”https://uhms.org/pressure-other-articles/1542-consumer-warning.html
- UHMS Hyperbaric Facility Accreditation Programhttps://www.uhms.org/pt/accreditation/accreditation-for-hyperbaric-medicine.html
- FDA Letter to Health Care Providers, Aug. 25, 2025 — safe use of HBOT deviceshttps://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/letters-health-care-providers/follow-instructions-safe-use-hyperbaric-oxygen-therapy-devices-letter-health-care-providers
- NFPA 99 TIA No. 1735 — final technical committee ballot resultshttps://docinfofiles.nfpa.org/files/AboutTheCodes/99/99_2024_HEA_HYP_Log1735_tiaballot_final.pdf
- NAVFAC MO-406, Hyperbaric Facilities Maintenance Manual (1990)https://www.wbdg.org/NAVFAC/OPER/mo406.pdf
Start a work order
Tell us the chamber, the site, and the timeline.
Make, model, serial number, photos, site address — send it all in one text or email and we can scope, price or diagnose it without a round of phone tag. Complete requests get worked first, simply because they can be.